9 Herbal ways to protect your child from mosquitoes

All age groups

Created by
Swati Nitin Gupta
Updated on Aug 05, 2016

With rains comes the nuisance of mosquitoes that not only irritate us, but also trouble our little ones. Mosquito bites can lead to an itchy rash and in severe cases illnesses like dengue. So, how do we protect our child from mosquitoes? How do we ensure that our child is safe and protected when both indoors and outdoors? Of course, the usual measures like ensuring that your child is dressed properly, arms and legs fully covered, and the clothes are lighter in colour, as dark colours attract insects always helps, just like ensuring that the environment near and in your home is neat and dry. This apart, there are some naturally available products that make for good herbal mosquito repellents! Here we share 9 such herbal repellents for you to try at your home.

1. Neem: Neem tree has numerous medicinal benefits. It is also an excellent insect/mosquito repellent. You may either keep a twig of neem leaves in your room or apply neem oil on your skin and you are ready to fight the mosquitoes.

2. Garlic: Garlic, owing to its pungent smell, makes for a good mosquito repellent. It is believed that people who regularly consume garlic are repulsive to mosquitoes. So you can either consume it or keep cluster of cloves in your home in all the rooms for better protection from mosquitoes.

3. Oils: Essential oils like eucalyptus, cinnamon, castor, rosemary, cedar and peppermint are known to be good natural mosquito repellents. You may either use them as they are and rub them directly onto your skin or you may mix them with your regular moisturiser. Other oils that act as natural mosquito repellent are mustard and soybean oil.

4. Lavender: Lavender is another natural mosquito repellent. Yes, lavender is a flower that pleases humans but mosquitoes find it quite unpleasant thus making it a good mosquito repellent. Grow a lavender plant either in your garden, or pluck some fresh flowers and place them in your home. Lavender oil can also be used as a mosquito repellent. Apply it on your skin and voila no mosquito will dare touch you!

5. Citronella: Citronella is also considered as a good natural mosquito repellent. Derived from a species of lemon grass, citronella oil’s smell is quite offensive and repulsive for the mosquitoes. Most of the leading mosquito repellent creams have citronella as one of the main ingredients in their creams.

6. Camphor: Camphor that is easily available in almost all the homes is an excellent natural repellent. You may burn the camphor in a metallic diya and then take the diya and let all your rooms have a whiff of smoke. Or else take a bowl or a bottle and put a camphor pellet in it with a few drops of water. However, you need to change the pellet regularly.

7. Coconut Fibres: Dried coconut fibres are known to be good mosquito repellent. Dried coconut fibres are easily available with most vegetable vendors. Cut them with a butcher’s knife, place them in a mud pot and ignite them with a help of a matchstick. The fumes from the dried fibres repel mosquitoes and they are harmless as they come from natural fibre.

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8. Tulsi: Tulsi is known for its medicinal properties in our culture. Other than that tulsi is believed to be an excellent mosquito repellent. It is believed that tulsi if grown in the garden, or kept in your home it ensures that mosquitoes stay away from your home.

9. The herbal shrubs (thyme, rosemary, clove, marigold): Well, yes all the herbal shrubs like mint, cloves, thyme and marigold have a unique ability to repel mosquitoes. How? Maybe it is their smell, but planting them in your garden will hopefully keep the mosquitoes away.

These are some known natural remedies, but their efficacy may be limited! Also, these remedies are supportive in nature but are not a replacement for physical barriers such as clothes or mosquito nets.

Very informative yet handy and easy to follow tips. In fact neem oil instead of the locally available anti mosquito liquid is very safe from the health point of view . All one has to do is use the empty container and refill it with been oil and plug it again. Try it out folks. It is more effective than. the chemical agents